The classroom was packed long before the class began. When Master Ven'A'Sash appeared in the rostrum, she appreciated this with a satisfied smile.

"This was as it should be from now on. No more tardiness. Where's the praepostor? Oh yes, here she is. I hope you know all your classmates by name now."

"Of course, Master."

"Then take the Attendance Book, fill it out and bring it back at the end of class. In the meantime, we're going to do some sorcery. And such one that is very educational for young wizards who haven't yet learned to wield their own wands."

She was thinking for a moment, and out of the crowd of anxiously awaiting students, she chose Ivliar.

"Tell us what formula you learned for today's class!"

"Creation of the Deceptive Trap."

"That's very interesting. Go downstairs and show it in action."

He did as he was told, but the spell did not work (which was not surprising, as it found out later: the Deceptive Trap was not an easy spell). Judging by the teacher's reaction, she didn't expect anything else.

"Here's how it should be done ," Master Ven'A'Sash made a motion with her wand, as if encircling the lycos. "I hope you'll be able to do the same someday. And now, you can go back to your seat."

As he obediently took a step in the direction indicated, he stumbled upon an invisible wall. He scratched his forehead and tried to walk forward again, but he couldn't even move. Laughter was heard in the classroom, but as soon as the teacher looked up at the audience, everything fell silent in an instant.

"Can anyone help him? Or is he just going to stand there?"

"Take a step back!" Jaamite prompted from her seat.

Ivliar did so and was astonished to find he could move again. Moreover, there was nothing to prevent him from returning to his desk.

Master Ven'A'Sash, meanwhile, focused her attention on Jaamite.

"Did you study the theory? Very well. Then come here and tell us more about that spell!"

"The Deceptive Trap belongs to the class of Magical Traps and is characterized by polyvalence of action," Jaamite began cheerfully. "In most cases, in order to overcome it, you just have to step back, and then the magic dissipates. But in some cases you have to step to the side, crouch down, or jump in place. There are many variations of the trap, and they differ from each other only by slight changes in the general formula."

"Well, let's see if you can jump," Master Ven'A'Sash smiled venomously, making the same motion with her wand again. "And let the praepostor count to a hundred. If you're not out of the trap by the end of the count, blame yourself."

Jaamite must have regretted taking the initiative and thus drawing attention to herself. Shin'Ye'Het was counting too fast, forcing the yusme to make hasty and therefore ridiculous gestures. Left-to-right, back and forth, jumping on the spot didn't help at all! When the count reached ninety, Jaamite covered her face with her hands, more out of despair than consciously. And the force that held her inside the trap immediately disappeared!

"Did you like it?" The Master asked the yusme, who was about to burst into tears. "That's why it's called Deceptive Trap, sometimes it's too unpredictable. And then whoever hesitates will be in for a very unpleasant surprise. What kind of surprise? Well, for example, temporary blindness. Or frostbite on his limbs. Or a bad mood for the rest of the day. Now do you understand why it was necessary to keep score? All right, you've earned your point, let it serve as consolation."

So much anguish, and only one point?!? Tim was well aware of Jaamite's state of mind. Resentment, disappointment, indignation, anger must be boiling in her soul; if it would be possible, she would run away from here or speak out from the heart about such teaching methods. But who has the courage to confront Master Ven'A'Sash about it? She can curse you so that you'd never want to live, and it would take you a long time to beg for forgiveness.

The next victim was the smirking Germeht.

"You! Yes, yes, that's you, don't play the stupid idiot! You think you're the smartest, don't you? We'll see about that. Go to the blackboard and draw the formula for Eyes Away on it."

And then he'll almost certainly be asked to use it, Tim thought. Perhaps Yantau would be able to do it; at least he knows the formula for sure. It might be difficult for him to put it in writing, though. Whether Tim could do it himself was also a big question; he had written out the formula from the textbook, but had not learned it by heart, concentrating on Shadow Cover, like most of his classmates.

Germeht readily performed what was required, smiling triumphantly at the class at the end. But he made a mistake in one of the words and thus blurred the effect of his performance. And the punishment was not long in coming.

"Have you not been told about the necessity of correct writing and recitation of formulas? The wizards who neglected it did not live long and sometimes died in terrible agony. Oh, don't worry, there aren't too many deadly mistakes, but if you don't want to find another one at the cost of your own life, try to learn not to make mistakes. At least in order not to look ridiculous in front of your fellows. An example? As many as you like. You should already know how the Veil of Dark spell works. It's not dark enough in the classroom right now for the magic to work at its best, but we don't need to. Because I'm going to use another spell, one letter different from Veil of Dark, and you'll see the result."

The cloud that was already familiar to Tim enveloped Germeht, and almost immediately dissipated. But not quite: tiny particles of it seemed to be absorbed into the skin and hair of the anzimar, that made him look like a typical Black African - only his eyes remained blue. There was a chuckle, and Tim heard the snide phrase 'black anzimar', while the others smiled in anticipation of continuing.

Of course Germeht could not see his own face or hair, but he guessed from the reaction of the class that something not very pleasant was going on.

"How am I supposed to walk around with these hands?" he was indignant, addressing the audience rather than the source of his trouble.

"Don't worry, sooner or later the magic will stop working," the teacher 'calmed' him down. "But now, I hope, the desire to make mistakes will be greatly diminished."

It was questionable if Germeht had the desire really, but he did not dare to argue with such an authoritative teacher and sat silently in his seat, trying not to meet anyone's eyes. As long as Tim had managed to study the anzimars' habits, they would not leave such humiliation unpunished - no matter how, but they would take their revenge later. Another thing, conflict with the mighty sorcerer can go sideways, so Germeht will take his anger out on someone else.

Master Ven'A'Sash, meanwhile, decided to slow things down by limiting herself to the Shadow Cover recommended in the last class. Calling in turns to the board Tiis-Mir, Taeron, and Mikpir, she asked them to demonstrate their mastery of the spell. However, the results were not very impressive - the outlines of the figures became slightly blurry, but no more than that.

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"I see that your preparation for the class is far from perfect. I hope you'll be properly prepared next time. If not," Master Ven'A'Sash paused meaningfully, and the pupils frozen in anticipation of more trouble to come, "blame yourselves. And that's enough for today, all may be free."

Clarifying a second later:

"All except the boy with no magical gift."

It was as if Tim had been hit over this head with a textbook. He hadn't expected this to happen, and he was surprised to find himself at a loss. He could not escape, and what would follow was completely unclear. Almost certainly nothing good, otherwise why should he suddenly be detained after class! However, he didn't have time to be guilty of anything...

The classmates who passed by looked at him sympathetically, sometimes mockingly. Only Mez'A'Shib whispered in his ear before he left: "Be extremely careful what you say." Good advice, but how can you use it if you don't know where danger is coming from?

Master Ven'A'Sash patiently waited until there was none of them in the classroom, and then she invited Tim to come to the rostrum for a talk.

"And to make sure no one will disturb us," she added, glancing at the door behind which the curious faces of Tim's pals could be seen, "I am going to make some arrangements."

With a wave of her wand, the door slammed shut with a loud noise, and a pinkish purple glow enveloped it.

"Another very useful spell, named Cotton-in-Ears, so no one won't be able to eavesdrop on our conversation, even with Sensitive Hearing."

What he heard did not reassure Tim, but rather the opposite. On unbending legs he went downstairs, looking at his teacher expectantly.

"So," she said in an unusually affectionate voice, "your name is Temozy (Tim didn't correct that) and you've come here from a planet called..."

That's where Tim had to give a hint.

"Exactly right, Earth. For some reason it is not mentioned in our guidebook. And there's no information about humans at all. Which is not surprising with the mess that reigns in the library. Many of the books in the catalog are missing from the shelves, and no one knows who has them. Yes, the current librarian came here not so long ago, but in the time since then, he could at least make an inventory. I had to declare that if he wanted to continue working at the school, he should take care of it."

Tim mentally sympathized with Khalid-amga: the drow teacher must have managed to put fear into him, too.

"I haven't been able to find anything but old legends, either," he said with a sigh.

"There! So you agree with me on this point. You can continue your search. And if the old fool won't give you the literature you're interested in, say you got permission from me personally. I think that would be enough to make a positive decision."

Indeed, Tim could hardly imagine anyone daring to question Master Ven'A'Sash. After all, she's also good with Black Magic!

"Has your gift not yet been awakened?" she suddenly asked.

"Not yet," Tim answered in a regretful voice.

"And you don't know how to awaken it, of course (Tim nodded his head in agreement). In fact, no one can foresee the moment of its first manifestation. As Apnarguda, who had studied the phenomenon of magical gifts for centuries, noted, the later its awakening, the more unusual the result. I'd be curious to see what you get. You're not going to keep it a secret from your Master, are you?"

Master Ven'A'Sash's soft voice startled Tim even more than her mocking or stern tone. It was an odd request - why did a sorcery master care about an apprentice from a planet that wasn't even mentioned in the guidebook? She had no interest in the innate abilities of any of his classmates, who were far more adept at witchcraft. On the other hand, there is nothing shameful about it - he is not being persuaded to spy on his own fellows! The more so that there is no point in hiding the fact of acquiring the gift.

"I have nothing against it," said Tim, overcoming his own fears. "But I wouldn't want to demonstrate it in front of the whole class..."

"I know exactly what you mean. It's true that not all things are worth showing to others. But there's no problem at all: when it finally happens, come into the library and ask Khalid to contact me. I think it makes no sense to talk about the undesirability of anyone else's presence there at that moment."

"Of course!"

"The details of our conversation today should also be kept confidential."

"If anyone asks, I'll tell him that you were interested in Earth," Tim figured it out.

"I see we understand each other. That's good. It will be better for you first of all. Oh, no, I don't mean to intimidate you. Some things you shouldn't trust even your friends. Someday you'll understand why."

"In some situations, they can behave in a very unfriendly way."

"That's exactly right. That kind of prudence isn't common at such a young age. Except for the drowes, but you're not one of them. Though I wouldn't be surprised if you struck up a rapport with one of my people."

How did she know of his friendship with Mez'A'Shib? Though... he really can be a rare dullard sometimes! The dark elf had sat beside him during classes, so there was no difficulty in deducing that.

"Now, if you get it right, you can go back to your classmates. No doubt they're already out of their minds with curiosity. As soon as you touch the door, the shutting magic will be dispelled and you can leave the room. See you in the library!"

That's easy to say - what if the gift doesn't show itself in a year? Master Ven'A'Sash will be disappointed and put him on her personal 'black list', making a laughingstock out of him in every lesson. He'll have to bother the 'old fool' again to see if there are any books in the library that mention how to make the gift awaken faster. Why didn't he think of it before!

This solution cheered him up a bit; he grabbed his wand and grimoire from his desk and hurried to the exit of the classroom. He reached for the door handle and turned around, but the teacher was no longer in the rostrum.

A whole crowd was waiting for him outside. In addition to his friends, there were Tiis-Mir, Selkise, Chilajt, the tilfing girls, all four orcs, three lycoses, and even a few elves. Once he was in sight, they all attacked him with questions.

"Well?"

"What did she want from you?"

"Did she try to mock you?"

"Not really," though Master Ven'A'Sash could no longer hear him, Tim pushed the door shut behind him. "She was asking about my home world."

"Is that all?" Gmuruk grumbled disappointedly.

"I didn't think Ven would be interested in anything other than dark magic," Tiis-Mir commented cheerfully.

"And besides punishment," Ri-Bo added, confessing that he had tried to eavesdrop, but to no avail.

"The door must be made of soundproof wood," Gillmir suggested.

Tim didn't say anything about the spell his teacher had used; if he did, they definitely wouldn't let him go until he told all the details.

"Never mind, let's go to the dining room!" Yantau put an end to the discussion.

His proposal was greeted with enthusiasm - appetite was usually lost for some reason before Master Ven'A'Sash's class, but afterwards the hunger was quick to take its own. This was to Tim's advantage: he was afraid of long questioning, when the chance of saying something wrong and thereby exposing himself increased many times over.

They celebrated the end of the class in a big way, ordering far more than they could eat. Especially since the next Twilight Magic class isn't until a month from now, and there aren't any classes at all in the next few days! You can meditate, play feyo or walk around the woods - all that you want!

The carefree discussion of plans for the upcoming mini-vacation was interrupted when Nhel'Yu'Min appeared.

"Silence, please!" she announced loudly, very maturely, drawing attention to herself. "I have an important message for you! According to Sir Pulsok's latest order, the penalties will be stiffened because of the increase in disciplinary infractions. From now on, not only is punishment for assaulting a classmate, but also for verbally abusing him. Sleeping out of rooms, attempts to enter places where access is prohibited, will be punished twice. Also, the school organizes a volunteer assistance squad of the administration. If anyone becomes aware of illegal actions of his classmates, he is obliged to inform any of its members. Withholding such information qualifies as aiding and abetting the perpetrators, and then..."

"Did you come here to spoil our appetite?" Gmuruk grumbled grimly.

"Disrespect can also be considered an insult," Nhel'Yu'Min said arrogantly, her chin tilted high.

In reply, a piece of eanni (an apple-like fruit, but tastes more like pineapple) hit her squarely in the ear - someone from the elves did their best.

"What are you doing!? I'll tell Sir Pulsok everything!"

This is where many people's patience ran out.

"Snitch!"

"Get out of here, tattletale, don't interfere with dinner!"

"Go kiss your goblin!"

"You're going to regret this!" Nhel'Yu'Min exclaimed resentfully, turning to leave the dining room. A second piece of eanni struck her between her shoulder blades, prompting her to get out of the dining room as quickly as possible.

"That's why they were gathering in the forest," Mez'A'Shib sighed.

"What do you mean?" Ri-Bo was surprised.

The drow had to tell them in order.

"Would anyone really want to join such a squad?" Naar-Tam was genuinely puzzled.

"Believe me, there are those who would gladly do so."

"I can't imagine anyone who would."

"You will see."